Role Playing at its best...How to Manage Your Manager

The Office - Dwight and Jim's imaginary sales call from Orion on Vimeo.

The Secret to Better Sales: Stop Reading Sales Books

"We are made of matter and nothing more, just another tiny, momentary spec within an indifferent Universe."

Open your Eye.

Today, the sales profession drowns in self-help tomes, and big-tent evangelical, esteem-building events.  From redefining selling, establishing social sales, and seeking disruption, the new professional is inundated with seemingly fresh advice.

Just like copiers, the books and classes are now, and always have been, the same; Universal.  

Everything has been said before.

Cutaway the self-indulgence, fluff, psychobabble, and nascent veneer, what's left is basic, simple core behaviors.  First-rate selling approaches possess timeless notions.

Here are three:

1. Unchecked Ego is bad
2. Going with the Flow is good
3. Your Competition isn't Fear of Change or lower pricing

"Silence Your Ego..."

Ego - 

Our manipulators bank on the thought of the Ego driving behavior. Why so many contests, glass trophies, stack rankings, and business plans?  Every 'win' feeds the Ego - we need Ego, without it, we dry up, wither and fade. Sell more, no matter the cost to your pride, standards, or personal values.

Everybody does it.  We sell answers, as long as the solution sports our logo.  You know what I say is true.

Too much ego leads to unfulfilled expectations, and insecurity causing lives to "skyrocket downward"; long work hours, missed anniversaries and divorce.  The experts don't tell you that, do they?

Can you be a successful selling professional and balance the ego?  I say the Greatest Salespeople do.

• Treat others nicely and be Polite...
• Ask permission
• Don't speak unless spoken to...You've got two ears, one mouth.
• Sincerity
• Solve, don't Sell

Flow -

"You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current, and use its power as your own. "

We call it the Funnel, the Submarine, The Sales Process - and we fight it every, single day of the month.

"On the 1st we sell solutions, on the 15th, we're moving boxes..." 

Yes, you are responsible for a projection and filling quota - you're compensated on hardware. Yet focusing on the 30 days, is like looking at life through a keyhole. Broaden your view.

I'm not advocating sacrificing the short term, I'd suggest expanding the view to include everything.

Be the river, not the stone.

Get to know EVERY lead in your territory.  Own it through research, face-to-face engagements, and total immersion of the environment.  Forget about networking groups like the chamber of commerce - you're not doing MLM, are you?  Get to know the ebb and feel of how decisions are made inside your clients, prospects and even YOUR DEALERSHIP.

This is not easy.  This is not taught. People will think you're crazy.  This will elevate you over your peers and management.

Find the flow of your world then master the tides.   It is not impossible.

Competition  -

"All Things Age.  All Things Die.  People think in terms of good and evil...when really Time is the true Enemy of us all.  Time kills everything"

Learning how to sell is complicated - systems, techniques, objections, rejection - all play a part, let alone talking to strangers who do not believe a word that comes out of your mouth.

It's a tough racket.

Our number one obstacle isn't an ornery gatekeeper, amorphous board of directors, aloof C-Level know-it-alls, or fear of change.

No.

Our enemy is Time. Time, both finite and infinite, consumes All.  But like the river, we cannot overcome Time.  Can you manage Time?  No.  Can Time be bent to our will? No.

We can control what we concentrate on during our stay on this plane.  It comes down to qualification. Not just the qualification of your prospects, co-workers, colleagues, and bosses.  

Who deserves your Time?

I say again, "Who Deserves Your Time?"



Dark Forces will beguile with unspeakable treasures.

Take heed, for many sorcerers hunger for the souls of the living.  They will say things like, "It's a numbers game, kid." or "work the process, it's how this company was built" and "this is how we've always done it..."  This is insidious. Inside each statement, shards of truth entice.

• It is true that the more people you contact, the better chances you have of acquiring a client.
• It is true that the process is proven.
• It is true repeating a known and proven flow delivers results.

The trick is equilibrium, not resistance.  Attend all the classes your employer will fund. Dutifully, jot down soon forgotten notes.  Then go out into the world, discover something new and find problems to solve.

Beware.  The imbalance will be your demise.

P.S.

There are three books about selling, I strongly recommend for beginner or seasoned veterans:

Miller Heiman

Stephan Schiffman

Napoleon Hill

Three books about writing, DOTC approved:

On Writing Well

On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft

The Element of Style

Cheers!

g

The Future of Copiers - The Wookie in The Room

by Greg Walters | 12/8/14

I'm writing this three weeks after the Executive Connection Summit and I’m still feeling the effects. Intel, SAP, Cisco — foundational members of the technology industry, stalwart believers in all things connected, came to speak here in our backyard. To be sure, it stands as the best show in the industry, with superior content. As Gavin Williams said, “The goal was really to educate as much of the industry as possible about the innovation available today.” The bar is officially higher, but there’s something more recondite just under the surface.

I comment about the players at center stage, but I’ve always enjoyed getting a feel for what the attendees find attractive - the dialogue between the talks. That’s the gold.

I thought of the Internet of Things conversations, how independent dealers are capitalizing on the technology not only in implementing but offering those same services to clients. It wasn’t until I remembered an onstage conversation when things started to click.

After one panelist on stage lamented the challenges of converting to a new accounting system, I chatted with a few people about moving to different CRMs and the difficulty of data conversion. One company decided to operate both the old and the new systems in parallel as legacy data is weaned over to the new system. Another is hiring a staff of “keypunch operators” to input all existing contracts and customer information into Forza.

The underlining tension, the Wookie in the Room, was simple: People know a better accounting system is out there, but getting to it is difficult because of our old school investments. Time and again, I spoke with people who recognized the need to switch but anticipated huge costs in labor and time with the transitional project of moving to a new CRM/accounting system. The tension was palpable.

Imagine needing to have a leg broken and reset because the original setting was primitive. At one time, healing a broken limb was as easy as tying the bone together with tree branches and twine. Years later,

read the rest at The Imaging Channel, here.